Truro looks at merging harbor jobs

Changes to Truro’s harbormaster position could be in store as the town begins to move past the months-long saga over the firing of former harbormaster Joe Francis.

Erik Borg

Changes to Truro’s harbormaster position could be in store as the town begins to move past the months-long saga over the firing of former harbormaster Joe Francis.

The town will look into several possible change to the position, among them reducing the hours and compensation for the job or combining it with an existing role within town staff, said Town Administrator Rex Peterson.

The changes would likely be determined before the end of the year, giving the town enough time to advertise and hire a new official responsible for overseeing activity at Pamet Harbor before it reopens for seasonal business in April, Peterson said.

The town’s harbormaster position currently calls for 40 hours a week during the April to November operating season and is cut to 10 hours a week in the remaining months. Francis, who had reached the town’s highest salary grade for the position, was making $51,260 a year as harbormaster.

Unlike neighboring Provincetown, Pamet Harbor is not a hub for commercial fishing. Activity at the harbor mainly consists of moorings for seasonal boaters and some charter fishing business, making the need for a traditional harbormaster questionable, according to some town officials.

“Some of the problem is it’s a year-round position but not really a year-round full-time position,” Peterson said.

As a result, the town will look closely at combining the harbormaster position with the part-time role of shellfish constable, he said.

It’s a dual role that has already been implemented in neighboring towns like Orleans and Harwich, which have similarly sized harbors.

Tony Jackett, the town’s current shellfish constable, has been serving as Truro’s interim harbormaster in the wake of Francis’ firing and will continue to man the post through the end of the harbor’s operating season in November.

A majority of the work as shellfish constable takes place during the annual recreational clamming season when the harbor is closed, making it a natural fit for consolidation, Peterson said.

Jackett said he has not yet discussed the possibility of taking on the dual role with the town, but would keep his options open. Over the years he has served as interim harbormaster several times.

Murmurs of potential changes to the harbormaster position have been an undercurrent throughout the saga of Francis’ firing.

After rejecting a “last chance agreement” that would have allowed the former harbormaster to return to his job last week, Francis suggested that town officials had unfairly seized an opportunity to fire him in order to make changes to the position.

In his closing statement, Francis mentioned the town’s alleged desire to fold the harbormaster’s office into the town’s department of public works.

The town’s labor relations attorney, Jack Dolan, responded by calling the accusation a “red herring” and argued that the town held the ability to make changes to the position at any point regardless of Francis’ firing.

Francis, who was fired June 7 after a physical altercation with an off-duty state trooper, had mounted an impassioned appeal of the decision that included a wide outpouring of community support. His campaign to get his job back ended last week after rejecting a “last chance agreement” over several contingencies, including mandated anger management training and a public acknowledgement of wrongdoing in the June 7 incident.

Following the selectmen’s decision to uphold the firing last week, Francis left open the possibility of filing a wrongful termination lawsuit against the town.

“I’m not allowed to talk about that,” although “a number” of people have reached out looking to contribute to a defense fund in the event of a lawsuit, he said.

Francis, a former commercial fisherman, still operates a charter fishing business out of Pamet Harbor. He was harbormaster for six years and assistant harbormaster for one year.

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